The invention relates to infant carriers and more particularly to infant seats for use with conventional shopping carts.
Conventional shopping carts are typically equipped with a foldable structure including a pivotable frame which is pivotable from a folded position overlaying the back transverse end of the shopping cart basket to an unfolded position inwardly of the cart basket at an acute angle to the basket back end, and a pivotable shelf which is pivotable from a folded position overlaying the back transverse end of the shopping cart basket to an unfolded horizontal position extending between the basket back end and the unfolded frame. The foldable structure can function either as a compartment within the cart basket for holding small or fragile goods, or as a child's seat. A drawback of this foldable structure, when used as a child's seat, however, is that it forms a relatively upright seat which does not properly support an infant who has yet to develop strong enough muscles and muscle control to sit upright. In addition, these foldable structures are hard and uncomfortable for the infant seated therein.
There have been various proposals known to me which include fastening an infant seat to the basket of a shopping cart. In these proposals, however, the infant seat is positioned longitudinally of the shopping cart basket over the foldable structure discussed above, and is fastened to the push handle of the cart and to the pivoted frame of the foldable structure. Morever, the infant seat either extends well over the top opening of the cart basket, thus, interfering with a clear access into the cart basket, or it extends well over the push handle of the shopping cart thereby interfering with the arms and handle of the person pushing the shopping cart. Additionally, the various proposals known to me for fastening an infant seat to a shopping cart are complicated in construction making them expensive to manufacture and difficult to use.
The present invention recognizes these drawbacks and provides a straight forward solution.